Are your hometown teams your favorite teams?

[Schmidty]

Although I'm from West Michigan, all of the Detroit teams are my favorite. And of course MSU is my favorite college aside from my real hometown team - Western Michigan University.

[DeToxRox]

The hometown teams are my favorite, plus the Wolverines, but I won't lie, my best friend lives in New York and we talk sports so often that I can't help but be interested in the Rangers, Knicks, Gmen and Yankees since I hear about them so often.

[AlexB]

I kind of had no choice - my old man worked in sports, so the team he worked for was the team I supported. Apparently until the age of 5 I was an Aston Villa fan, but I have very little recollection of this.

So I'm happy with my support of Leicester City, Leicester Tigers, Leicester Panthers, Leicester Riders... I guess you get the idea!

[dawgfan]

Having been born and raised and lived nearly my entire life in Seattle, it would be rather odd for the hometown teams to not be my favorites.

I suppose if I were to move elsewhere I might begin to follow the local teams, but I can't imagine not being a fan for life of my original teams - the Huskies, Seahawks and Mariners.

That's not to say that I haven't rooted for other teams at times. For a while in the mid to late '80's I also rooted for the Dodgers. I was a fan of Pedro Guerrero and then Orel Hershiser, so I was very happy when they won the '88 series.

I also liked the Rams in the late '70's/early 80's as a kid, mainly because I thought (and still think) they have the best helmets in pro football.

But that's pretty much it. I'm a hometown fan guy and find it rather odd when others aren't. I work with a guy that's also a born and bred Seattlite, and he's a Steelers fan, mostly because his dad is a big Steelers fan and for whatever reason he never took a liking to the Seahawks. I give him shit all the time for being a traitor.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

I made the switch to the Marlins and the Heat the day those teams were awarded to South Florida. I don't think going from rooting for the Lakers and the Braves to those expansion teams would qualify for bandwagon status. Watching them go from expansion teams to champions was special.

Well I don't consider that bandwagon. I just meant that my refusal to be a bandwagon fan led me to be so loyal to the teams I was already rooting for that I didn't want to switch just because a new team popped up in my area. I was already fully invested in those teams.

And I agree with Big Fo that the Jaguars were annoying because they kept pre-empting the Dolphins. I remember a game when Don Shula was coaching against his son. It was heavily hyped and looked like it could be heading into OT, but the NFL's stupid TV rules meant the game had to be switched late in the 4th quarter for the start of the Jacksonville game.

[terpkristin]

I put "nope" but really I'm a mixed bag.

For pro football and baseball, I'm a Boston fan through-and-through, owing to the influence of my grandfather (who lived in Connecticut) when I was growing up. My folks aren't really all that keen on sports, so he was the one who taught me about them, and he taught me to like HIS teams.

I also cheer for the Nats and the O's (my local teams) as long as they're not playing Boston, and I'd like to see both do well (while I'm asking for miracles, can I please get a cure for cancer?). I adore Camden Yards and am upset with myself that I haven't been to Nationals Stadium yet, and I'm really out of excuses for not going.

For US pro soccer, I am a hometown fan (DC United). Sadly, I don't get to enough games. For EPL...well, none of them is my hometown team, so I support Arsenal because that's who the guy I was seeing that got me interested in international soccer supported.

For college, I now live in Virginia but given that I went to Maryland, there's not a snowball's chance in hell I'd cheer for the Hokies or the Hoos. But when I lived up in Maryland, that was the "hometown" choice...

/tk

[Wolfpack]

I'm mostly a "Yes" with the exception of MLB since there isn't one in North Carolina. For MLB, it's Colorado (long story). I also hesitatingly, cringingly, sort of support (not root for, I suppose) the embarrassment to pro sports that is the Charlotte Bobcats, mainly because my NBA interest is mostly casual, so I don't really care about any other teams.

As I said in the NHL thread last night, my sports interests are absolutely in the toilet these days, Rockies aside.

[Racer]

I voted yes because I consider my favorite pro sports teams to be the Pacers and Colts. However, after voting I also realized that I love to root against all Notre Dame sports despite being Catholic and growing up about 40 minutes from the university.

[kcchief19]

Generally speaking. I think I was a pretty typical sports kid in that I liked my local teams ... unless they sucked. Then I tended to adopt a good national team as a co-favorite.

For instance, the Royals were my favorite baseball team as a kid and they were good at the time. Since my hometown was a Cardinal town it's not entirely clear why I was such a Royals fan, other than they were better than the Cardinals in the late '70s and '80s.

I liked the Chiefs as well but the Chiefs were bad back then, so I became a fan of Roger Staubach and the Cowboys. Still love the Cowboys.

I've always been a Missouri Tigers fan but when I started really following college basketball was when Coach K first went to Duke and I'm still a Blue Devil basketball fan. Of course technically my hometown team is Missouri State and I'll always root for them to win if they play Missouri or Duke. College football, it's Mizzou and Mizzou only, and always has been. Not sure why because we stunk for a LONG time! Maybe because they didn't start to stink until much later -- Missouri football had some good seasons in the late '80s and early '80s. Missouri State is I-AA and football and obviously they are my favorite I-AA team.

When I liked the NBA, I liked the Kings until they moved. Then I went for the Lakers. I'll still root for the Lakers, but I hate the NBA so who cares.

The Blues are our only state hockey team and that's my team there.

[henry296]

I haven't really lived in Pittsburgh for 15 years, but still die-hard Steelers/Pirates/Penguins fan. 2 out of 3 at bad.

As for college, I root for Penn first since I went to school there, but have no problems rooting for any of the "local" Pitt, Penn State or WVU when they aren't playing each other.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Originally Posted by Schmidty

Although I'm from West Michigan, all of the Detroit teams are my favorite. And of course MSU is my favorite college aside from my real hometown team - Western Michigan University.

So if Western Michigan beat MSU, would you be happy? Or just confused?

[Logan]

Originally Posted by DeToxRox

The hometown teams are my favorite, plus the Wolverines, but I won't lie, my best friend lives in New York and we talk sports so often that I can't help but be interested in the Rangers, Knicks, Gmen and Yankees since I hear about them so often.

And yet, you've never been here? Come on, we can tear some shit up.

[Terps]

The 'hometown' teams here are the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, Penn St. My dad grew up in Baltimore and I took a liking to his teams, minus the Colts, because they were gone from Baltimore when I was a year old.

Mine are N.Y. Giants, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Bullets/Wizards, Washington Capitals, University of Maryland football and basketball.

[cmp]

Lions, Tigers, Pistons, Red Wings and for college it's Michigan.

[k0ruptr]

Growing up in Hawaii really puts me in a disadvantage as for as sports teams.

Sure I love the Warriors for the 3 main college sports, but also love Oregon for those as well.

The other teams well I just kinda grew to like them, used to be a huge Niner fan growing up, but adopted the Panthers as my team when they were introduced into the league. NBA is probably the most interesting, I was a huge fan of both the Magic (shaq time) and the Suns (although not as much as the Magic), and still am a big fan of both (but don't admit it because most people say you cannot have 2 favorite teams) I don't follow the NBA nearly as much now as I did when I was younger. Always been a White Sox fan, 80 % because of Frank Thomas, and 20% because of my sister and Dr Dre. Hockey I adopted the Ducks because of my sister as well. I think I have followed all these teams since about 1989/1990 (the ones that existed then). I was 6.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by k0ruptr

Growing up in Hawaii really puts me in a disadvantage as for as sports teams.

Sure I love the Warriors for the 3 main college sports, but also love Oregon for those as well.

The other teams well I just kinda grew to like them, used to be a huge Niner fan growing up, but adopted the Panthers as my team when they were introduced into the league. NBA is probably the most interesting, I was a huge fan of both the Magic (shaq time) and the Suns (although not as much as the Magic), and still am a big fan of both (but don't admit it because most people say you cannot have 2 favorite teams) I don't follow the NBA nearly as much now as I did when I was younger. Always been a White Sox fan, 80 % because of Frank Thomas, and 20% because of my sister and Dr Dre. Hockey I adopted the Ducks because of my sister as well. I think I have followed all these teams since about 1989/1990 (the ones that existed then). I was 6.

Hey, k0ruptr, you should swing by the NHL thread some time. Right now, it's bhlloy and myself keeping the Ducks love alive. You can contribute, too, and help fight off the massive in flux of Red Wings fans there.

[Izulde]

Not at all.

When I was a kid it was:
NFL - Miami Dolphins (Marino)
MLB - St. Louis Cardinals (Ozzie Smith - still one of my fave players of all time)
NBA - None really, though I did follow the hometown Bucks some
NHL - None
College - Duke Blue Devils basketball. I loved the Laettner/Hurley years especially. In fact, up until my senior year of HS, I really wanted to go to Duke.

During my early college years:
NFL - Miami Dolphins that became None after the Jimmy Johnson trainwreck, except for a very brief affair with the Philadelphia Eagles because of Donovan McNabb and the Eagles remain my favorite NFC team because of him.
MLB - Toronto Blue Jays
NBA - Boston Celtics (I've mentioned the girl story in one of my dynasty threads, I think)
NHL - Toronto Maple Leafs
College - Minnesota Golden Gophers for my first semester. Now I despise all Minnesota teams. After that, none.

The Toronto thing was a different girl story that started it, plus I absolutely loved the city of Toronto when I visited it in the winter of '97. Even thought about transferring to the University, so I adopted the Blue Jays and Maple Leafs. Ironically enough, I'd lost interest in the Cardinals when they A) started shuffling Ozzie out and B) when they got that stupid dark blue in their uniforms

Now:
NFL - Miami Dolphins (with a fondness for the Eagles, though that'll die out once McNabb retires)
MLB - Chicago White Sox
NBA - Boston Celtics (Very diluted since I don't care much about the NBA, to be honest. I didn't even get all *that* hyped up about the championship a couple years ago. Not like the 2005 World Series, which is my happiest sports fan moment to date).
NHL - If I'm totally honest, none. I don't follow hockey at all. It'd be either the Predators (enjoyed Nashville quite a lot) or the Maple Leafs if I did, though.
College - Arkansas Razorbacks, although because I haven't been completely happy here, if I end up going to another D I school for my MFA, I might either change allegiances or have a co-allegiance.
Soccer - Real Betis

The Dolphins and White Sox are the only teams that are set in stone for me. That 2005 World Series title really clinched it for me and ended my nomadic baseball fandom days.

Real Betis I chose because I wanted to support a major Andalucian team and I love Sevilla as a city, so it was either them or F.C. Sevilla. I decided I liked Real Betis's history better this summer, plus the royalist in me loved the royal patronage of Real Betis, so I went with them.

That said, I'm honestly not a fan of soccer beyond the high school, maybe the college level. Professional soccer just bores me watching it on TV, though the World Cup rocks.

[Radii]

I grew up in a small town near the Triangle in North Carolina (raleigh/durham/chapel hill), born in 1976.

College Basketball - There is a picture somewhere in the house of me in a NC State shirt when I was 2, my parents are to blame for that. I don't remember a time when I was not a UNC fan. The importance of UNC basketball in my life as a sports fans dwarfs all other sports combined.

MLB - We got WGN in 1984, didn't get TBS until another year or two later, i've been a Cubs fan for as long as I've been a baseball fan.

NFL - My parents were Cowboys fans, so I was a huge Dallas fan in the 80s. I disowned them when Tom Landry was fired, and was sort of in the wind as an NFL fan until the Panthers got a franchise. Die hard Panthers fan since day 1. For the record, I don't count any of the Jimmy Johnson super bowls as championships for "my teams".

NBA - I've usually picked players here more than teams. In the 80s I was a *huge* Lakers fan. Magic Johnson was my hero(weird that it wasn't a tar heel), plus James Worthy was on the team and I loved him too. For a brief time later(5-6 years maybe?) I was a big Hornets fan once Charlotte got a team, during the Larry Johnson/Alonzo Mourning years. I don't really consider myself a fan anymore of the NBA at all, though I keep up with how some of my favorite Tar Heels are doing. If I had to pick a team right now I'd pick Denver b/c of Ty Lawson.

College Football - I grew up in basketball country. I spent my Saturday's in the fall outside playing basketball with my friends all day. I do not remember watching a single college football game before 1990. When I went to Georgia Tech in 1995 I went to every home football game, and consider myself to have zero UNC football allegiances.

[Wolfpack]

Originally Posted by Radii

I grew up in a small town near the Triangle in North Carolina (raleigh/durham/chapel hill), born in 1976.

College Basketball - There is a picture somewhere in the house of me in a NC State shirt when I was 2, my parents are to blame for that. I don't remember a time when I was not a UNC fan. The importance of UNC basketball in my life as a sports fans dwarfs all other sports combined.

Just...so...so sad. Your parents tried to do right by you and this is how you repaid them?

Originally Posted by Radii

College Football - I grew up in basketball country. I spent my Saturday's in the fall outside playing basketball with my friends all day. I do not remember watching a single college football game before 1990. When I went to Georgia Tech in 1995 I went to every home football game, and consider myself to have zero UNC football allegiances.

Hm. I watched plenty of football in the fall (we even had tickets to State games for a few years running, but the disaster that was the Tom Reed era pretty much ended that). I also had a circle of friends that played all the sports so I never really viewed football, basketball, or baseball as being bigger than either of the others. Of course, given the grand tradition of college football in the Triangle, it's more than understandable why you wouldn't care. I suppose half-a-loaf is better than none.